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Thursday, May 12, 2005

Yesterday I posted a piece about Grover Norquist’s control of the media message. Norquist and his cabal right-wing lobbyists, journalists and conservative groups meet weekly to coordinate policy and develop talking points that are sent to the “conservative media via a sophisticated fax tree.”

While this is not exactly the prepackaged news that Senators Kerry and Lautenberg are targeting with their Truth in Broadcasting Act, one cannot help but wonder if the Norquist’s cabal does not exert their powerful influence of the prepackaged news produced by the federal agencies. Today, John Kerry is saying “It’s Time to Reign in the Spin!”

The Truth in Broadcasting Act, authored by Senators John Kerry and Frank Lautenberg, will require all prepackaged news stories produced by a federal agency to clearly identify the United States government as the source of the story.

Below is a statement by Senator Kerry on his legislation:

"The American people have a right to know they're not only watching the administration's spin on their local newscasts, they might be paying for it too. It's one thing to watch Jon Stewart on television, but it's another to imitate him with Americans' hard-earned tax dollars. We should stop this abuse of the public trust and waste of taxpayer money.

"It's hard to believe that in the greatest democracy in the world, we need legislation to prevent the government from writing and paying for the news. It runs counter to everything we believe as Americans. I hope Congress will stop the legal hairsplitting and end this dishonest practice."